Roseanne Barr fired after Valerie Jarrett, George Soros tweets

almost 6 years in NY Daily

Roseanne Barr unleashed a vicious Twitter tirade— prompting ABC to cancel her sitcom hours later.

The outspoken actress ripped former Barack Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett in a racist tweet and claimed billionaire investor George Soros is "a nazi" during a social media spiral that began overnight.

"muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," Barr wroteabout Jarrett, replying to another user who suggested the adviser "helped hide a lot" of Obama's secrets.

Barr, 65, laterwrotethat the tweet was a “joke" before deleting it, issuing an apology and saying she was “leaving Twitter.”

ABC then announced it was canceling her show amid a wave of backlash against the controversial star.

“Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” reads a statement from ABC.

Jarrett, 61, was born in Iran, and both of her parents are African-American. Barr's mention of Muslim Brotherhood refers to a Sunni Islamist organization headquartered in Egypt.

The "Roseanne" actress— who frequently voices her conservative viewpoints — also drew backlash for her posts about Soros. She began by inaccurately tweetingthat Chelsea Clinton is married to one of Soros' nephews. When Clinton responded to tell her that was incorrect, Barr fired back by claiming Soros, who is known for his support of liberal causes, is a Nazi.

"Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!I Please forgive me!" Barr wroteto Clinton, the daughter of Hillary Clinton. "By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?"

Soros, 87, was 9 years old when the Holocaust began. Barr's post about Soros was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., as was anotherwhere the actress claimed it is Soros' goal to overthrow the American "constitutional republic by buying/backing candidates 4 local district attorney races who will ignore US law & favor 'feelings' instead."

She issued her apology several hours after the initial tweet.

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans," Barr tweeted Tuesday morning. "I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste."

By 10 p.m., Barr was back online retweeting supportive fans and commenting on Jarrett’s background — again.

“I thought she was saudi,” Barr mused, in response to a tweet suggesting Jarrett was Hispanic.

She then launched an amends spree, nearly 24 hours after the initial tweet that set fire to her show. She apologized first to the crew and writers behind “Roseanne” and then appealed directly to Jarrett, mentioning her Twitter handle.

“I want to apologize to you,” Barr wrote just before midnight. “I am very sorry to have hurt you. I hope you can accept this sincere apology!”

Jarrett addressed the situation during a pre-taped MSNBC town hall, which is set to air Tuesday evening.

"The tone does start up at the top, and we like to look up to our President and feel as though he reflects the values of our country," Jarrett says in a clip released by MSNBC, without referring to Barr by name."I also think every individual citizen has a responsibility, too."

A rep for Soros, meanwhile, shared his outage over Barr's tweet and pointed out that Soros survived the Nazi invasion of Hungary when he was 13.

"Such false allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust, to all Jewish people, and to anyone who honors the truth,” a statement from his spokesman reads. “They are an affront to Mr. Soros and his family, who against the odds managed to survive one of the darkest moments in our history.”

Actor Scott Baio, another high-profile supporter of President Trump, previously shared a theory that Clinton was married to a Soros nephew in a 2016Facebookpost.

Many praised ABC for taking Barr's sitcom off the air, including The Rev. Al Sharpton, who said ABC had "done the right thing."

“Racism should not be tolerated by media that depends on corporate advertisers that make their money selling goods to Americans,” Sharpton said in a statement. “We will be vigilant and hold those accountable that use public airwaves to spread hate.”

Sara Gilbert, who played Barr's daughter on the show, was among the numerous public figures who condemned the actress' behavior.

"Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show," she tweeted. "I am disappointed in her actions to say the least."

Another co-star, Michael Fishman, called Barr's comments "reprehensible and intolerable" while saying he believed their show always aimed to preach inclusiveness.

"Today is one of the hardest days of my life," Fishman, who played Roseanne's son, said in a statement. "I feel devastated, not for the end of the Roseanne show, but for all those who poured their hearts and souls into our jobs. … The words of one person do not exemplify the thinking of all involved.

Barr's tweet came several weeks after an episode of "Roseanne" centered on the actress' character, Roseanne Conner, fearing her new Muslim neighbors were terrorists who were building a bomb. The episode aimed to teach Barr's character a message about prejudice, as she found out the neighbors were good people once she got to know them, but only after the show included a series of stereotypical jokes.

The tweets marked the latest controversies that Barr has created since her show was revived in March following more than two decades off the air. She touted a conspiracy theory on Twitter days after the season premiere that suggested Trump had freed hundreds of kids from sex trafficking rings.

"President Trump has freed so many children held in bondage to pimps all over this world. Hundreds each month," she tweeted at the time. "He has broken up trafficking rings in high places everywhere. notice that. I disagree on some things, but give him benefit of doubt-4 now."

She later said Twitter was "not the place" to discuss the theory after many questioned what she was talking about.

Her series also garnered criticism in April for a scene where her character and her on-screen husband (played by John Goodman) fell asleep during the shows that centered on Asian and African-American families.

"They're just like us," Barr's character says after they realize they missed the shows. "There, now you're all caught up."

The rebooted "Roseanne" drew 18 million viewers in its season premiere. It had been renewed for another season before Tuesday's cancellation.

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